Gators fall to Drexel in WNIT

Special to Gatorsports.com

Published: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 11:52 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 11:52 p.m.

Florida won its first four games in the Women’s National Invitiation Tournament on the road, but was unable to overcome Drexel’s shooting and rebounding effort in a 67-57 loss in the semifinals on Wednesday in Philadelphia.

The Dragons (27-10), who hit 8 of 18 3-pointers and held a 33-26 rebounding edge, shot 49 percent (24-49) overall from the floor and limited the Gators (22-15) to just seven offensive rebounds and forced them into going 4 of 20 from 3-point range.

“They did a great job of rebounding and that was the difference,” said head coach Amanda Butler, who has an 11-6 postseason record at Florida. “We got out-rebounded by seven and we only had seven offensive boards and didn’t give ourselves any second chances. Defensively, we didn’t get it off the rim and up the floor like we needed to. Once they got the lead they did a great job of really slowing down the pace and milking the shot clock under five seconds regularly. That was not flukish, that’s what they do and we did a really poor job of defending that.”

<p>Florida won its first four games in the Women's National Invitiation Tournament on the road, but was unable to overcome Drexel's shooting and rebounding effort in a 67-57 loss in the semifinals on Wednesday in Philadelphia. </p><p>The Dragons (27-10), who hit 8 of 18 3-pointers and held a 33-26 rebounding edge, shot 49 percent (24-49) overall from the floor and limited the Gators (22-15) to just seven offensive rebounds and forced them into going 4 of 20 from 3-point range.</p><p>“They did a great job of rebounding and that was the difference,” said head coach Amanda Butler, who has an 11-6 postseason record at Florida. “We got out-rebounded by seven and we only had seven offensive boards and didn't give ourselves any second chances. Defensively, we didn't get it off the rim and up the floor like we needed to. Once they got the lead they did a great job of really slowing down the pace and milking the shot clock under five seconds regularly. That was not flukish, that's what they do and we did a really poor job of defending that.”</p><p>Freshman Sydney Moss scored a team-high 20 points with a game-high 10 rebounds while junior Jaterra Bonds, a P.K. Yonge alum, added 14 points and five steals.</p>